Wednesday, March 27, 2013

In commemoration of Holy Week and to highlight its
continuing struggle for regular jobs at Philippine Airlines, the Philippine
Airlines Employees’ Association (PALEA) staged a “Kalbaryo ng Manggagawa”
today.

“Retrenched PAL workers have endured the Calvary
of joblessness and poverty for the last 18 months as a result of the corporate
greed of Lucio Tan and his outsourcing plan. But PALEA will endure this trial,
win the fight and resurrect stronger,” declared Alnem Pretencio, PALEA vice
president.

The Kalbaryo march will start at the PALEA protest camp at
4:00 pm and then proceed to the Our Lady of the Airways Parish where a short
program will be held. Marchers will bring a makeshift cross to symbolize the
plight of workers and highlight the call “Kalbaryo ng Manggagawa, Kapitalista
ang may Gawa.”

After the activity at OLAP, the rallyists will march back to
the PALEA protest camp for another program. The highlight of the program will
be the lighting of 18 torches to reflect the 18 months of PALEA’s fight against
outsourcing and contractualization.

PALEA’s international supporters also held a “Global Day of
Action” today in solidarity wit its fight and to press PAL management to
immediately resolve the labor row. In Melbourne,
where PALEA president Gerry Rivera is attending a labor conference, he and
Australian unionists from the Maritime Union of Australia leafleted the PAL
flight out of the city today.

Leafleting of departing PAL flights will also be done in Toronto and Honolulu by
Canadian airline unions and by the Hawaii
hotel workers. “PALEA’s fight is also our fight. The struggle against
outsourcing and contractualization is a worldwide fight that can be won by
global solidarity and action,” the groups abroad declared.

Las week the Court of Appeals (CA) released a decision affirming
the decision of the Office of the President allowing the outsourcing plan at
PAL. Next week PALEA will file a motion for reconsideration to the CA decision even
as it proceeds with the ongoing talks with PAL management for negotiated
settlement to the long-running dispute.

Friday, March 22, 2013

The militant Partido ng Manggagawa (PM) today slammed
as harassment the early morning raid by the police of the office of the union
of the giant mining company Carmen Copper in ToledoCity, Cebu.
The raid follows a similar raid on the house and resort the union treasurer
last Tuesday in which four persons were arrested.

“With a month
to go before Labor Day, the union repression in Cebu sadly highlights the state
of workers rights in the Philippines.
Truly the Philippines
is the second most dangerous place for trade unionists in the whole world,”
Renato Magtubo, PM national chair said.

PM is also
demanding the release of the Toledo Four arrested in the Tuesday raid. The
group is accusing the police of planting a 45 caliber pistol allegedly found in
the union office this morning and other arms supposedly seized in the raid last
Tuesday. The police raid of the residence of union treasurer Roldan Cansancio
was supposedly due to his involvement in the killing of a ward leader of Sonny
Osmena in Toledo
last month.

“The police in
collusionwith certain elements in Carmen Copper management are
trying to divert the real issue which is the brewing labor dispute. They are
also trying to silence one of the very vocal critics of management’s
contractualization scheme and unfair labor practices,” insisted Dennis Derige, PM-Cebu
spokesperson.

Labor relations at Carmen Copper started to get strained late
last year when management started to implement a contractualization scheme that
affected regular jobs. The union Panaghugpong sa Mamumuo sa Carmen Copper (PAMCC) also became increasingly critical of the damaging impact to
the environment of the company’s open pit mining. A full blown labor dispute
erupted when it was discovered that management formed a company union in a bid
to bust PAMCC.

“Elements of the PNP are being used by powerful
interests in Carmen Copper to criminalize the labor row. They maliciously link
Cansancio to the killing last month of a certain Rene Embranilag, who is not an
employee of Carmen Copper nor related to the labor dispute, to justify the entry
of PNP to the labor problem,” asserted Derige. Osmena himself attributed the
killing of Embranilag as politically motivated and unrelated to the labor
dispute.

Meanwhile PAMCC president Tony Cuizon condemned the
raid and defended Cansancio. “This is unacceptable! The PNP Regional Intelligence
Division has no business intervening in the labor dispute. They timed the raid
when all of union officers, including Cansancio, are here in Manila
attending an International Labor Organization seminar so that we cannot defend
ourselves from their malicious attack. This is a cowardly act.”

Cuizon further added “They are trying to silence my
long time partner in the union because he is my alter ego and very vocal
against management abuses. They are trying to discredit his credibility by portraying
him as underworld character when in fact he is active in fighting criminality
in the province as a CIDG volunteer. Roldan could have turned his back on me
when management people tried to convince him to capitulate but he did not and
remained loyal to the union. This is the kind of men the union movement needs
and I have high regard for him.”

Cansancio and PAMCC declared that they are readying
their own charges against those responsible for the raid. PAMCC and PM also announced
protests are to be held in the coming days. The groups are also alleging police
brutality occurred as a 13-year old minor was pinned down the floor, an Armalite
rifle was pointed at him and he suffered verbal abuses from the raiding team.

“We cannot take this sitting down. The raids have a
chilling effect not on PAMCC but also to the labor movement in general. We call
on the Department of Labor (DOLE) and Commission on Human Rights (CHR) to
intervene and investigate this act by the police. Certainly, the PNP violated
our human rights and rules on labor disputes,” Cuizon ended.

Tuesday, March 19, 2013

Fourty (40) days after Alona Bagayan, an OFW from Kalayaan, Laguna allegedly committed suicide in Dubai, her kin can only hold and look at her portrait, shed tears and wish that her body be brought home soon.

Her younger sister, Maricel, was shedding tears while explaining to family members and some press people that an official of the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) told her that investigation on the case is still going on, 40 days after Alona’s death.

The Partido ng Manggagawa (PM) is also getting disappointed with the slow-pace investigation. “Fourty days have passed and yet the family does not have access to basic information such as on Alona’s employer, her address in Dubai where she was found dead, and even a picture of her remains. Facing a blank wall is more depressing for the Bagayan family,” said PM spokesperson Wilson Fortaleza.

A mother of four, Alona Bagayan left Kalayaan for Dubai to work as domestic helper. She was deployed abroad by the Al-Masiyah Overseas Placement Agency, Inc. with office in Ermita, Manila. The Philippine Overseas Employment Agency (POEA) has suspended the operations of Al-Masiyah.

“She was a happy mother when she left thus her relatives strongly doubt that she would commit suicide after less than a week,” added Fortaleza.

The labor group stressed that overseas Filipino workers have been instrumental in keeping the Philippine economy afloat despite the global financial crisis . Unfortunately the government and related agencies remain negligent and unprepared to deal with the many risks our OFWs are facing abroad.

The government also failed to address the growing unemployment problems through strategic programs that will generate regular jobs.

Regular jobs and a living wage is part of Partido ng Manggagawa’s “Apat na Dapat” demands this election period. Other demands are social services (health, education); lower prices for basic commodities (food, LPG, petroleum products, water, electricity); and protection and equal opportunities for women.

Sunday, March 17, 2013

The militant
Partido ng Manggagawa (PM) mourned the death of UP Manila
student Kristel Tejada and called for a stop to the controversial “no late
payment” policy. The Manila Collegian,
UP Manila school paper reported that Tejada
committed suicide allegedly due to financial constraints. Since last year, UP Manila has been implementing the “no late
payment” and “forced LOA” policies that are being criticized by PM as anti-student
and anti-poor.

“The no late payment and forced LOA
policies kill. Tejeda’s suicide is both sad and enraging. UP is a public university being subsidized by
the government for the education of the country’s future leaders. Over the years, it has been crafting and
implementing policies that have made it difficult for poor but deserving students
to enter the university, including the STFAP.
Dati kung matalino ka, you deserve to be an ‘Iskolar ng Bayan,’ ngayon kailangan
you have to have money, too. That is not
a problem to those who can afford UP education, but how about poor students?” said
Judy Ann Miranda, PM secretary-general and a former UP Manila
student leader.

“’Education is a right, not a
privilege.’ The death of Tejda should
not be in vain.. Rather, it should lead
to reforms that would address discrimination against poor students in the
premier public university because of inability to pay tuition fees. This is not for UP alone but so with the rest
of state colleges and universities,” Miranda added.

PM-Kabataan
is advocating a set of demands called “Apat na Dapat” as a challenge to
candidates in the elections and an increase in the budget for education is among
them.

Thursday, March 7, 2013

Women members of Partido ng
Manggagawa and Philippine Airlines Employees Association (PALEA) held a
picket-rally this morning in front of the Department of Labor and Emplyoment
(DOLE), Intramuros, Manila. The activity
highlighted the economic and labor demands of women workers.

The
abuse of women, physical and otherwise, is a major theme of the worldwide
commemoration of women’s day. The rallyists brought makeshift chains bearing
the major economic demands of women. The women workers also partook of a boodle
fight of tuyo to highlight the grave poverty and double burden of working
women.

Among the economic burdens of
women raised during the activity are the lack of job opportunities for women,
outsourcing and contractualization as experienced by PALEA, and high prices of
basic commodities and services like water and electricity.

Filipino women’s Labor Force
Participation Rate (LFPR) has remained within the 50% mark. This is not because women chose to remain at
home as so-called “plain housewives’ but rather due to lack of
opportunites. Regular jobs have been
dwindling for decades and contractualization has become the norm. “Sa
hirap ng buhay at kakarampot na sweldo, walang babae ang gustong manatili sa
bahay para mag-abang ng iintregang sweldo ng kanilang mga asawa tuwing
kinsena. Women find no pleasure in
that,” asserted Partido ng Manggagawa Secretary General Judy Ann Miranda.

She added that it is more
difficult for women to make ends meet unemployed. “Syempre,
mas makakatulong kung parehong may regular na trabaho dahil sa Pilipinas ‘buy
1-take 1’ ang pamilyang manggagawa para kitain ang sweldong sasapat sa kanyang
pangangailangan sa isang araw.” With
current prices of basic commodities and services, a family of six needs at
least P1,000 a day to live decently. The
minimum wage has remained more or less half of that amount.

In celebration of International
Women’s Day, women workers’ demands remain:

1.Regular jobs and a
living wage

2.Quality social
services (e.g. housing, health and education)

3.Low-priced basic
commodities, water and electricity

4.Rights and
protection for women

After this activity, PM and PALEA
women members will be participating in women’s groups activities on
anti-violence against women tomorrow.

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Our Vision

Our dream is a world that gives due importance to the role of the working class and respects the dignity of labor. A social order where the working men and women of the world live together in peace, harmony and progress.Our aspirations lie in the emancipation of labor. A government that is truly of the workers, by the workers and for the workers.

Our hopes rest in a future where social progress thrives not for the benefit of a few people but for the development and richness of the entire humankind. A society that is free from the chains of wage slavery and where oppression does not exist.

Our Mission

Forge the unity of the workers into an independent working class party to organize them as a potent political force in social transformation towards the advancement and protection of labor from the scourge of globalization, establishment of a genuine workers’ government and the emancipation of the working class from capitalist exploitation and wage slavery.

Workers Unite!

The working class is the most important class in society. But, labor will only be a force to reckon with at a time when labor assumes the responsibility of leading the struggle to a decent living - free from exploitation of the propertied elite.

The time has come to rally every underprivileged sector of the society, to take the bull by the head and confront the issues of today. The working class must take an active role in every political exercise presented. The backbone of the independent party must be comprised of the working class with the other marginalized sectors in solidarity.

We must organize politically.

This is our own challenge and we must vow not to shirk from it.

Our future is in our hands, in our unity, in our struggle, in our party.